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It is much better for man to live on a deserted island, than to live in a society where he is nothing more than a pawn ready to be sacrificed to the altar of the "public good." Trying to peruse and achieve dreams on an individual level is what America is based upon. When a person looses that individuality they become nothing more than a drone of society. Individualism is better that collectivism. Individualism focuses on the self before the collective while collectivism focuses on the group rather than the person. Individualism has evolved over time while collectivism has been slowly declining. Individualism is better suited for today’s society. For this purpose it is important to know exactly what these terms mean.
Individualism is the belief in the primary importance of the individual and in the virtues of self-reliance and personal independence. The foundation of individualism lies in one's moral right to pursue one's own happiness. Pursuing personal goals requires a large amount of independence, initiative, and self-responsibility. When trying to receive an education it is the individual that reads the book, goes to class, and passes or fails the tests. When trying to receive an education it is the single individual that reads the book goes to class and passes or fails the tests. Individualism explains that society is made of a group of individuals. Individualism advocates that each person has his or her own failures and successes that may be influenced by society but are not defined by it. If a man goes out for a job and is denied that job, according to individualism it is his own fault, because he was missing whatever the employer needed. Individualism is only opposed to man living in society as a non-individual. It does not agree with the person being an unimportant component in society. Individualism states that every person regardless of age race, class or sex has the right to make their own choices and choose their own path. It is popular to those who believe in freedom. Though individualism is a popular philosophy now it was not always so well accepted.
Individualism is often associated with being alone. But in fact, it asserts that the individual is the primary unit of importance in society not that the individual should seek like outside of it. It simply says that though someone is a part of a society they still are a whole person with their own goals. A true individualist wants the best for themselves, so they look for the best no matter where it comes from. A true individualist seeks out the truth even if it contradicts them because the truth is more important. Therefore, Living inside of society has benefits that individualists cant deny.
A primary element of individualism is the responsibility of each individual. Being responsible making one's choices consciously and carefully, and accepting accountability for everything one does or fails to do. Productivity is a critical part of responsibility. The individualist recognizes that nothing nature gives men is entirely suited to their survival; but that, humans must work to transform their environment to meet their needs. This is the essence of production. The individualist takes responsibility for his or her own production; they seek to “pull their own weight.” Even though, it seems that only one person will benefit individualism helps out the whole.
Reason is a very important component to the individualist theory. Reason transcends the evidence of the senses into higher-levels of awareness. Reason plays a key role in imagination, emotions, and creativity. Every thing we think, feel, imagine and do is based on our awareness and our thoughts. We would be nothing without reason. Our character, personal identity, and achievements are defined by our thoughts. Our very survival depends on reason. Our food, clothes, shelter, and medicine all are products of thought.
Reason is individualistic. No person can think for another. Thought is an attribute of the individual and not a group. People have and exercise their minds in their own way. One can start with the ideas of another but take it to new highest and venues no one has ever known, this is a product of the individual. And when an individual does build on the work and ideas of others, he is building on the work of other individuals, not on the ideas of society. Individualism is based on the fact that humans are rational beings, and that reason is an attribute of the individual. Humans can get together and share the products of reason, which is a tool on the quest for further knowledge, but they cannot share the capacity to think is at the core of being human. Collectivism on the other hand comes form an entirely different perspective.
Collectivism is a belief in the primary importance of the group rather than the individual. It asserts that the collective is more than just a group of people who interact with each other, that the people are one. Collectivism asserts that the collective has a single identity, which is made up of a group of individuals. It attempts to take a group of individuals and make them into a single entity similar to a person. In Collectivism the individual comes second to the collective. The standard of good in a collectivist system is whether or not it benefits the group rather than the individual. By this definition it is ethical to ignore the needs and life of a single person if the group has something to gain.. There is no individual gain in collectivism. The failures and success of the group are given to everyone evenly. If the collective does something great like create a new energy source the scientists and technicians would be given the same amount of create as another person in the collective who had no idea that type of research was going on.